Rants, Raves & Views

Radius Festival this year was nothing short of exciting. Featuring over 60 indie games, the event always promises to deliver new and quirky titles that are either soon to hit shelves or have just gone into beta, hell, even alpha.

While we couldn't list all here'a a few that got us tinkering:

Inside My Radio:

This game reminded me a lot of Super Meat Boy, except that you must time your actions to a beat. It sounds straight forward but it's harder than you think. The main beat is just a guide for you to keep your bearings on timing, but you can also time your actions in half beats, just so long as it's to the rhythm.

It was hard to get the hang of at first, but after a while you get used to the timing and gameplay starts to make more sense. If you played Super Meat Boy and like a bit of techno and house music playing in the background while you game, Inside My Radio could be for you. Check out the gameplay video below.

CounterSpy:

CounterSpy is a tactical espionage that borrows its stylistic ideas from the 50's and 60's when the Cold War was at its coldest and James Bond was at his sharpest. At its core, CounterSpy is a 2D side-scroller, but what the game does differently is to throw in 3D elements, adding depth to gameplay and a vibrant style to the visuals.

The goal is to infiltrate and sabotage the bases of the two super powers engaged in a heated arms race. As far as gameplay goes, CounterSpy feels more like a shoot 'em up rather than a stealth game. Instead of avoiding guards and remaining undetected, players will find themselves figuring out how to take down a room full of guards in the most efficient way. Other times, you'll simply find yourself in a full blown gunfight.

CounterSpy will be available this Summer on PS4, PS3, PS Vita and mobile and tablet devices. Check out the gameplay demo below from this year's E3.

Not A Hero:

Here's another game that brings back memories, this time from Hotline Miami. Not A Hero is a 2D arcade shoot 'em up that has players view the action from the side and not top-down. Players follow Bunnylord, who has traveled back in time to re-write the history of his crime-filled city. Players must blast their way through office blocks filled with enemy gangs while completing mission objectives.

Like Hotline Miami, this game focuses on 8-bit hyper violence. Tiny pixelated characters smash each other's skulls in with baseball bats and blood is splattered everywhere with automatic machine guns. Adding to this are two mechanics that help the action along. A sliding move allows players to dive head on into action at turbo speed and a cover move lets players avoid enemies and lasers.

Not A Hero comes out on PC early next year, and will follow on PS4 and the Vita. Check out the gameplay video below.

Prismatica:

Prismatica is a puzzle game with a new twist, literally. Players must match circular, gear-like wheels with colors on them with a picture they were shown before starting. Inspired by the Rubik's cube, gameplay is somewhat similar in that you must constantly think a few steps ahead. It's easy to learn and simple to play, but extremely hard to master.

After just a few minutes I was stuck and had to ask for a bit of help. The person quickly performed a few swipes and suddenly everything matched. There's clearly a pattern you start to learn once you've dedicated a few hours to the game. Either that or I'm just really stupid. Let's go with the former.

Prismatica will be released on iOS, Android, Windows, PC/Mac/Linux.

Minecraft Cocktail Bot:

So this isn't much of a game, but it'll get you drunk depending on how you play it. Using Minecraft to select and deliver ingredients, players must mine different blocks within the game to make their perfect cocktail. The ingredients are dispensed through two tubes running out of the floppy disk drive.

There are eight different kinds of blocks that players can use to fill their drink. Four are non-alcoholic and the other four are liquors - gin, vodka, run and a Viennese chili liqueur. Each block represents a single centilitre, so you will need more than one block of each flavor to make your cocktail.

Tom de Roeck drove all the way from Austria to show this off, and has actually won a prize for his design at the annual Roboexotica event in Vienna. The event is so popular there is now one in San Francisco, so expect to see more quirky designs like this in the future.